ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona baseball team returned home on Saturday afternoon to host Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Penn State Behrend in a doubleheader at Stewart Athletic Field.

Penn State Altoona (14-15, 5-5 AMCC) posted a strong 9-2 victory in game one. But game two got away from the Lions, as Behrend (19-9, 6-4 AMCC) powered its way to a 24-6 win in seven innings.

Game One: Penn State Altoona 9, Penn State Behrend 2

Penn State Altoona held a narrow 3-2 lead after three innings, but a four-run fifth inning was part of six unanswered runs scored by the Lions to help the home team achieve a more comfortable victory in game one.

Tyreke Green (Altoona, PA/Altoona) was 2-for-3 with a double, a run batted in, and a run scored. Corey Chamberlain (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) had a double and three RBI, and Jake Hillard (State College, PA/State College) had a double, two RBI, and two runs scored.

Grayson McClain (Mount Union, PA/Mount Union) was 1-for-2 with three runs scored and an RBI, while Jimmy Mento (Corapeake, NC/Gates County) went 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored. Dominic McCaffrey (Spotswood, NJ/St. John Vianney) hit 1-for-2 with an RBI, and Jonathan Rauch (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run. Zach Ingold (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) also had a hit for the Lions, and Alex Hlivia (Pennsylvania Furnace, PA/State College) walked twice and scored a run.

Eli Wiles (Kittanning, PA/Armstrong) got the start on the pitching rubber for Penn State Altoona and recorded his second win of the season. In 4 2/3 innings of work, the right-hander held Penn State Behrend to two runs on a trio of hits and five walks while striking out three.

Sean Wing (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) notched his first collegiate save, protecting a two-run lead in the fifth inning when he entered, then holding Behrend scoreless the rest of the way. In 2 1/3 innings, Wing allowed only three hits and a pair of walks while striking out four batters.

Behrend scored a run in the top of the first on Dan Boehme's RBI double to left center, but Penn State Altoona came back with three runs in the bottom of the first. With McClain and Hillard in scoring position, Chamberlain's groundout scored one run, and Rauch's infield hit to shortstop brought in another. Two batters later, McCaffrey made it 3-1 on his sharply-hit RBI single to second.

Behrend cut its deficit to one in the third, getting a David Gibson RBI single to center that made it 3-2.

Penn State Altoona got its lead back to two runs in the bottom of the fourth, when McClain led off with a bunt single, moved up to second on a sacrifice by Green, and scored on Hillard's RBI double to left center.

The Lions doubled their run total by adding four runs in the fifth. With one out, Hlivia walked and McClain was hit by a pitch to put two runners aboard. Green's double to right center drove in Hlivia, and a Hillard sac fly on the next play allowed McClain to score from third. After a pitching change, Chamberlain dropped a double down the right-field line to plate two more runs, making it 8-2.

Behrend loaded the bases in the top of the sixth, but Penn State Altoona got out of the inning unscathed, preserving its six-run advantage. The Lions tacked a run on in the bottom of the sixth when they executed a squeeze, as McClain's sac bunt allowed Mento to score from third, increasing Penn State Altoona's lead to 9-2.

The Lions put down the visitors in order in the top of the seventh, and Penn State Altoona finished game one with a 9-2 victory.

Game Two: Penn State Behrend 24, Penn State Altoona 6 (Final/7 innings)

Behrend's bats proved too much to handle for Penn State Altoona in game two, as the visitors totaled 19 hits and produced 24 runs in seven innings, ending the game early via the 10-run rule.

Green finished 2-for-4 with three RBI for Penn State Altoona. Ingold and Aidan Donovan (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) each hit doubles for the Lions, with Ingold also recording an RBI and scoring a run, and Donovan walking twice and scoring a run. Rauch hit his team-leading third home run of the season and recorded a pair of RBI.

Mack Meengs (State College, PA/State College) started at pitcher and suffered the loss after pitching two innings and striking out four batters. Cole Brechbill (Hagerstown, MD/North Hagerstown) tossed 2 2/3 innings in relief, and Cameron Dubbs (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) pitched the next 1 1/3 innings. Caden Suba (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) also made an appearance out of the bullpen, and Hlivia pitched the game's final inning.

Behrend scored three runs in the top of the first inning on a pair of long balls. David Gibson's two-run homer to left center scored the game's first runs, and Tom Nicely followed with a solo shot to right center to make it 3-0.

The visitors added two more to their total in the second, thanks to a Dylan Barnes two-run homer to left that extended the Behrend advantage to 5-0.

Penn State Altoona got on the board in the bottom of the second, when Green's two-out, two-run single to right made it 5-2.

Behrend responded with four runs in the next half inning to boost its lead to 9-2 in the top of the third. Barnes drew a bases-loaded walk, Boehme drove in two runs with a base hit down the left-field line, and a throwing error later allowed Barnes to score, giving the visiting team a seven-run lead.

Penn State Altoona countered with three runs in the bottom half of the third. Chamberlain started with a leadoff walk, and Rauch hit a home run over the center field fence to make it 9-4. Green's two-out RBI infield single later in the frame brought the Lions to within four, 9-5.

The Lions inched closer in the fourth, when Chamberlain led off with a single and scored on Ingold's double to left, trimming the Behrend lead to 9-6.

But Behrend broke the game open with a 10-run fifth inning that included a Silvio Ionadi grand slam, and the visitors took a 19-6 advantage out of the frame.

Behrend went on to add two in the sixth and three in the seventh, ultimately ending the game after the seventh by putting the 10-run rule into effect.

Penn State Altoona baseball continues its AMCC schedule for its next date, as the Lions will travel to Cresson to face nearby conference foe Mount Aloysius College in a doubleheader this Wednesday, April 24, at 1 p.m.